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Elon Musk on How to Build the Future

(www.ycombinator.com)
1106 points sama | 5 comments | 15 Sep 16 18:05 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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iMuzz ◴[15 Sep 16 18:20 UTC] No.12508474[source]▶
Question/Answer I found interesting:

Sama> How should someone figure out how they should be useful?

Elon> Whatever this thing is you are trying to create.. What would be the utility delta compared to the current state of the art times how many people it would affect?

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1. fchollet ◴[15 Sep 16 20:51 UTC] No.12509709[source]▶
The equation should have per-subject weights to modulate the "how many people" part. For instance, if my app helps Mr. Musk be 10% more productive, that's more impactful than helping Mr. Smith be 10% more productive.
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2. tscizzle ◴[15 Sep 16 21:15 UTC] No.12509883[source]▶
I assume the equation he's talking about already propagates the value to the "leaves", where if the app is boosting a person's productivity, and that person's productivity increases value for a group of people, then it's that final group of people's increased value that is counted toward the original total. And there could be more than 2 layers before you quantify the value without recursing any deeper, of course.
3. metaphorm ◴[15 Sep 16 22:12 UTC] No.12510272[source]▶
absurd hero worship. I like Elon Musk just fine, but you're fawning over him. How do you propose we nominate "great persons" for your "equation" anyway?
4. i2shar ◴[15 Sep 16 22:59 UTC] No.12510573[source]▶
The weights would be different based on who's assigning them.
5. Whitestrake ◴[15 Sep 16 23:58 UTC] No.12510890[source]▶
Hypothetically, this is unnecessary.

Assuming that a 10% increase in productivity causes a 10% increase in the impact on people (either in quality or quantity), 10% of Mr. Musk's impact may be greater in absolute terms than 10% of Mr. Smith's.

One may debate whether 10% productivity = 10% impact, but if that increase is attributed back to you, there's no need to artificially manipulate the equation.